So ZOS has established ability rulesets and is in the process of pigeonholing abilities into those rulesets by modifying core functionality. The goal of these rulesets and categorization is to be able to balance the game more easily down the road. I would like to discuss some of the ramifications I've seen so far from this process/system from a PVP perspective.
I'll be covering abilities like Poison Injection, Destructive Reach, Cripple, Shade, and Entropy.
First, I'd like to compare the live versions of Poison Injection and Consuming Trap vs. what they would look like with these PTS changes, using the tooltips from my unbuffed direct-damage CP Nightblade. Consuming Trap is categorized as a DoT in the ruleset, while Poison Injection is classified as instant damage + DoT package.
Poison Injection: 4408 instant damage + 15395 damage over 10s = 19803 damage total
PTS Poison Injection DoT nerfed by 63%: 4408 + (15395 x .37 = 5696) = 10104 damage total
Consuming Trap: 19254 over 10s
PTS Consuming Trap DoT nerfed by 50%: 19254 x .5 = 9627
These abilities appear to be balanced around doing comparable levels of total damage, all things considered. Next to analyze how the DoT portions match up on live and on PTS.
Consuming is doing 19254/15395 = 25% more damage over time than Poison Injection on the live patch.
With PTS changes, Consuming Trap will be doing 9627/5696 = 69% more damage over time.
The difference between these values is staggering. The goal of using DoTs is to cushion your burst window by providing passive damage while you do direct damage. However, players can just heal or block the instant damage, meaning that the most significant part is the lingering DoT. Going from 25% more damage on a standard DoT vs. the DoT damage from an instant+DoT package ability to 69% more damage is actually crazy, imo. I'm wondering what specifically lead to these numbers. Why were Instant+DoT package abilities (like Poison Injection, Destructive Reach, Searing Strike) nerfed by more than other DoTs when the DoT portion was already weaker? To reach the same total damage? If ZOS is adamant about sticking to their whimsically determined total damage standard because of some ruleset principle, then other functions of the abilities need to be addressed to make up for lost relative value.
Here's one of the problems with this ruleset system and auditing:
Even with the FULL double damage from the 100% execute on Poison Injection, you would get 5696*2 = 11392 over 10s for the DoT, which is 11392/9627 = only 18% more damage than Consuming Trap at MAXIMUM execute effectiveness. So how did we get here?
In Scalecaller, Poison Injection's cost went from 2430 to 2700. The initial hit had its damage value reduced by 17%. The DoT damage was increased by 78%, while the execute scaling was dropped from 260% to 100%. This was to fit Poison Injection into ZOS' ruleset of instant damage+DoT (and auxiliary function, scaling % execute damage in this case).
After the DoT damage was increased by 78%, it's now being decreased by 63% in this PTS, without ANY other changes. This is how Poison Injection on PTS has wound up FAR worse than it was 2 patches ago, when it had 260% execute scaling. They nerf-buffed the ability and now are nerfing the buff without addressing the previous nerfs. This is the same case as Destructive Reach, which lost stun utility and instant damage.
Because of their established rulesets + principles, they have nerfed standard DoTs by 50% and instant+DoT packages by 60-63% in order to reach comparable levels of total damage WITHOUT paying respect to auxiliary ability functions. More value has to be brought back to Poison Injection (& similar abilities), perhaps with higher scaling execute damage or base DoT damage.
This is my biggest critique of the "Ruleset system." During the auditing process, these abilities are fundamentally changed to FORCE them to fit within the established rulesets.
In this case, they took the MAIN functions of these abilities and removed/reduced them in order to make them auxiliary functions, while replacing the main function with DoT damage. They then nerfed the new main function of these abilities without addressing the auxiliary functions that were initially removed/reduced in order to allow these abilities to be categorized as damage+DoT ruleset abilities in the first place. This also does not take into account the fact that every class/spec is going to receive these changes differently, especially considering what some of them might have lost to get there. This demonstrates that ruleset standards that were created for easier balancing are not allowing ZOS to reach that goal, because the abilities' value is more complex than the damage number on the tooltip.
The NEXT critique of the Ruleset system is that it pays little respect to how an ability is functioning in actual gameplay. The changes are not for the sake of balance, they're for the sake of categorization and standardization.
Let's look at Cripple for an example. In Elsweyr, Cripple was changed to conform to the Damage Over Time ruleset. It gained a very small DPS increase for its ticks, gained a 2 second duration increase, lost a bit of snare potency, and... lost Major Expedition. Why did it lose Major Expedition, you ask? Because in a vacuum, this ability with Major Expedition on it would be better than other DoTs in the ruleset. I do not imagine that anyone would argue that Magblades needed a nerf, though, so this removal feels contrived. The class source of Major Expedition was kept on Path of Darkness. The number of Magblades in small scale PVP is incredibly low, and I imagine the number of those that use Path of Darkness is far lower.
The next patch, Cripple gained a slight cost reduction and a 17% DoT increase, while other DoTs also received buffs. Now THIS PTS, Cripple's damage was reduced by 50%, alongside other abilities in the Damage Over Time ruleset. Because ZOS looks at things with a microscope or in a vacuum, makes sweeping changes for abilities in a ruleset, and doesn't make changes looking at the bigger picture or actual gameplay (instead opting to make changes based on arbitrary principles), Cripple has wound up doing less DPS than it did before all of these changes while ALSO having a weaker snare and losing Major Expedition on what is generally regarded as one of the worst performing classes in PVP. What sense does this make? Homogenizing things like this when there are so many other contributing factors to balance just leads to a reduction in class identity without actual class balancing.
Next up is Summon Shade, specifically the Shadow Image morph. Last patch, it received a much needed fix to the reliability of its port alongside a 50% cost increase. This patch, ZOS is reducing the damage of Shade by 42% per hit. This is expected, as other DoTs' potencies are being reduced. An example of the shortcomings of the ruleset system: sweeping changes with ruleset standards pay no attention as to whether or not NBs should lose this damage in terms of class balance - they simply do. Do note that I'm not necessarily saying NBs should keep the damage, I'm just saying that there is a lack of consideration.
The more important point: on top of that, ZOS is also forcing the ability into the ruleset of the "gap closer or creator standard" by bringing the teleport range from 28m down to 22m. Again, my question is: why? They cannot possibly reach this conclusion through a gameplay or balance perspective, so it is my assumption that they felt a strong need to categorize this ability, decided on the gap closer/creator standard, and elected to, LIKE BEFORE, reduce some of an ability's core functionality to make it fit within their chosen ruleset. Why is Shade meant to operate under the gap closer or creator standard? Shadow Image doesn't even create or close distance on the ability's initial cast. It can teleport a player through terrain and structures (line of sight). It can bring a player straight up the Z-axis. Is ANY OTHER gap closer or creator intended to function like that? I don't think so, so why is it being forced until this category with nearly a quarter of its range trimmed off as collateral? It's one of the few abilities in the game that still requires strategy, planning, and consideration to use well. Why target that for nerfs? Is UNDO going to be limited to 22m (once it's finally fixed)? If you want to hit NB survivability, maybe address what is generally perceived as a giant crutch: Cloak. This Shade change does not make sense from a balance/gameplay perspective, and it does not make sense from ZOS' own ruleset system. Leave this ability alone. I repeat: leave this ability alone. If it MUST be changed for whatever reason, then the 50% cost increase should be reverted.
One last example of the Ruleset system's flaws features Entropy. They took what was a utility spell and transformed it into a DoT superloaded with utility. We all know how that worked out. It's a very basic and relatable example of the imbalance that results when an ability is pigeonholed into a ruleset category without proper consideration for its auxiliary effects.
I'm tired of typing.
Summary:
Because of ZOS' insistence on using these rulesets, ZOS needs to buff Poison Injection (perhaps through its auxiliary function) and similar abilities to make up for the lost value that resulted from this PTS' DoT nerfs and the core functionalities removed/reduced in the previous ability audit. They need to be more considerate in their sweeping nerfs of categories of rulesets and, in this case, understand that these abilities and their relative power levels are more than the DoT numbers attached to them. ALL of an ability's functions must be considered when it is changed. The standardization of abilities process must give proper consideration to other balance elements.
ZOS must stop examining abilities in a vacuum, without proper regard for gameplay/balance/how something feels in practice. Also, they need to stop forcing abilities *COUGH* SHADOW IMAGE *COUGH* into their ruleset categories just for the sake of having it categorized, especially when it does not functionally belong there.
Thanks for reading, and let me know what you think~
Side notes (not totally related to the main message of the post):
- I didn't want to get really into class balance discussion in this post, but maybe I'll touch on the potential for leeway (strength and weakness by design) to be used within the rulesets if relevant.
- I think that ALL DoT damage should be slightly increased, but specifically in this post, I'm calling attention to ZOS to be more wary of an ability's total value when ALL of its functions are considered, especially its relative value to its historical value.
- I also think that class DoTs should be slightly stronger than universal DoTs, and melee DoTs should be stronger than ranged DoTs b/c of risk. vs reward.
